Phys.org news tagged with:lunar craterhttp://phys.org/
en-usPhys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.Scientists discover fresh lunar cratersA Southwest Research Institute-led team of scientists discovered two geologically young craters—one 16 million, the other between 75 and 420 million, years old—in the Moon's darkest regions.http://phys.org/news/2016-05-scientists-fresh-lunar-craters.html
Space Exploration Mon, 23 May 2016 13:35:15 ESTnews383229305Image: SMART-1 views a cluster of the moon's cratersThis image shows a crater-filled region in the northeastern part of the moon. Several features are visible here, including, to the left of the frame, the small Keldysh crater peeking into view. Below and to the right of Keldysh is the small depression of Hercules F, which sits to the left of the faint and eroded rim of Atlas E. The largest and most prominent feature, visible towards the top right of the frame, is Atlas crater.http://phys.org/news/2016-02-image-smart-views-cluster-moon.html
Space Exploration Mon, 15 Feb 2016 09:30:01 ESTnews374748637LRO finds Apollo 16 booster rocket impact siteAfter decades of uncertainty, the Apollo 16 S-IVB impact site on the lunar surface has been identified. S-IVBs were portions of the Saturn V rockets that brought astronauts to the moon. The site was identified in imagery from the high-resolution LROC Narrow Angle Camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.http://phys.org/news/2015-12-lro-apollo-booster-rocket-impact.html
Space Exploration Fri, 04 Dec 2015 07:55:58 ESTnews368438150Asteroids found to be the moon's main 'water supply'Water reserves found on the moon are the result of asteroids acting as "delivery vehicles" and not of falling comets as was previously thought. Using computer simulation, scientists from MIPT and the RAS Geosphere Dynamics Institute have discovered that a large asteroid can deliver more water to the lunar surface than the cumulative fall of comets over a billion-year period. Their research is discussed in an article recently published in the journal Planetary and Space Science.http://phys.org/news/2015-10-asteroids-moon-main.html
Space Exploration Thu, 01 Oct 2015 05:34:21 ESTnews362896451Extent of Moon's giant volcanic eruption is revealedScientists have produced a new map of the Moon's most unusual volcano showing that its explosive eruption spread debris over an area much greater than previously thought.http://phys.org/news/2015-03-extent-moon-giant-volcanic-eruption.html
Space Exploration Wed, 18 Mar 2015 09:52:12 ESTnews345891122LRO spacecraft captures images of LADEE's impact craterNASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft has spied a new crater on the lunar surface; one made from the impact of NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission.http://phys.org/news/2014-10-lro-spacecraft-captures-images-ladee.html
Space Exploration Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:13:54 ESTnews333738825Image: Messy peaks of ZucchiusEven to the naked eye, our Moon looks heavily cratered. The snippet of carved and pitted lunar surface shown in this image lies within a 66 km-wide crater known as Zucchius. From our perspective, Zucchius is located on the edge of the southwest limb of the Moon.http://phys.org/news/2014-07-image-messy-peaks-zucchius.html
Space Exploration Mon, 21 Jul 2014 08:50:01 ESTnews325148784Lunar pits could shelter astronauts, reveal details of how 'man in the moon' formedWhile the moon's surface is battered by millions of craters, it also has over 200 holes – steep-walled pits that in some cases might lead to caves that future astronauts could explore and use for shelter, according to new observations from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft.http://phys.org/news/2014-07-lunar-pits-astronauts-reveal-moon.html
Space Exploration Thu, 17 Jul 2014 17:18:59 ESTnews324836318What's so hard about counting craters? (w/ video)(Phys.org) —Providing a rare glimpse of the trade secrets of planetary scientists, the journal Icarus published a study this month that compared lunar crater counts by eight professionals with crowdsourced counts by volunteers.http://phys.org/news/2014-03-hard-craters-video.html
Space Exploration Wed, 26 Mar 2014 08:00:02 ESTnews315038086Spectral analysis reveals Moon might have had water when it was formed(Phys.org) —A research team with members from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the US Geological Survey has concluded that hydroxyl molecules found in the central peak of a crater on the moon indicates that the moon likely had a water component when it was first formed. In their paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers suggest that because the rock in which it was found likely came from deep within the moon, it's not likely the hydroxyl was formed by solar wind flux or by other bodies striking its surface.http://phys.org/news/2013-08-spectral-analysis-reveals-moon.html
Space Exploration Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:00:02 ESTnews296811004Metamorphosis of moon's water ice explainedUsing data gathered by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, scientists believe they have solved a mystery from one of the solar system's coldest regions—a permanently shadowed crater on the moon. They have explained how energetic particles penetrating lunar soil can create molecular hydrogen from water ice. The finding provides insight into how radiation can change the chemistry of water ice throughout the solar system.http://phys.org/news/2013-06-metamorphosis-moon-ice.html
Space Exploration Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:39:30 ESTnews290871564'One giant leap' toward a NASA Armstrong center?Neil Armstrong's name is attached to a lunar crater, an asteroid, more than a dozen schools and a museum.http://phys.org/news/2013-06-giant-nasa-armstrong-center.html
Space Exploration Sat, 08 Jun 2013 11:44:57 ESTnews289910672Moon may harbour alien minerals, study saysMinerals found in craters on the Moon may be remnants of asteroids that slammed into it and not, as long believed, the satellite's innards exposed by such impacts, a study said Sunday.http://phys.org/news/2013-05-moon-harbour-alien-minerals.html
Space Exploration Sun, 26 May 2013 15:40:04 ESTnews288801591LRO's spectrograph observes mercury and hydrogen in GRAIL impact plumes (w/ Video)(Phys.org) —When NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft made their final descent for impact onto the Moon's surface last December, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's sophisticated payload was in position to observe the effects. As plumes of gas rose from the impacts, the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) aboard LRO detected the presence of mercury and hydrogen and measured their time evolution as the gas rapidly expanded into the vacuum of space at near-escape velocities.http://phys.org/news/2013-03-lro-spectrograph-mercury-hydrogen-grail.html
Space Exploration Tue, 26 Mar 2013 11:29:59 ESTnews283516156Researchers suggest comet most likely cause of Chicxulub crater(Phys.org) —Researchers from Dartmouth College in the U.S. as part of their presentation at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference this past week, have given evidence that suggests it was a comet that struck the Earth approximately 65 million years ago creating the Chicxulub crater—an event most scientists agree was likely the cause behind the demise of land dwelling dinosaurs. Up till now most in the field have believed that it was likely an asteroid that caused the crater and disruption that followed.http://phys.org/news/2013-03-comet-chicxulub-crater.html
Space Exploration Mon, 25 Mar 2013 07:27:44 ESTnews283415237What craters on the Moon teach us about EarthSome questions about our own planet are best answered by looking someplace else entirely… in the case of impact craters and when, how and how often they were formed, that someplace can be found shining down on us nearly every night: our own companion in space, the Moon.http://phys.org/news/2013-01-craters-moon-earth.html
Space Exploration Thu, 10 Jan 2013 07:51:53 ESTnews277026702New type of 'space weathering' observed on asteroid VestaThe surface of the giant asteroid Vesta is weathering in a way that appears to be completely different from any other asteroid yet visited, according to new data recorded by NASA's Dawn spacecraft. This new type of space weathering suggests that there's something about Vesta—perhaps its mineral composition or its position in the solar system—that makes its surface environment fundamentally different from other asteroids studied thus far.http://phys.org/news/2012-10-space-weathering-asteroid-vesta.html
Space Exploration Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:09:17 ESTnews270922145Solar wind particles likely source of water locked inside lunar soilsThe most likely source of the water locked inside soils on the moon's surface is the constant stream of charged particles from the sun known as the solar wind, a University of Michigan researcher and his colleagues have concluded.http://phys.org/news/2012-10-solar-particles-source-lunar-soils.html
Space Exploration Sun, 14 Oct 2012 13:00:17 ESTnews269436734SMART crater on the Moon(Phys.org)—On the morning of 3 September 2006, a brief flash illuminated the Moon's 'Lake of Excellence' as ESA's SMART-1 mission met its fate on the dusty surface.http://phys.org/news/2012-09-smart-crater-moon.html
Space Exploration Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:18:03 ESTnews265961866Walls of lunar crater may hold patchy ice, LRO radar finds(Phys.org)—Small patches of ice could make up at most five to ten percent of material in walls of Shackleton crater. Scientists using the Mini-RF radar on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) have estimated the maximum amount of ice likely to be found inside a permanently shadowed lunar crater located near the moon's South Pole. As much as five to ten percent of material, by weight, could be patchy ice, according to the team of researchers led by Bradley Thomson at Boston University's Center for Remote Sensing, in Mass.http://phys.org/news/2012-08-walls-lunar-crater-patchy-ice.html
Space Exploration Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:27:52 ESTnews265552060Asteroid strikes cause the Moon's surface to smoothThe lunar surface is marred by impact craters, remnants of the collisions that have occurred over the past 4.5 billion years. The Orientale basin, the Moon's most recently formed sizeable crater, stands out from the rest. The crater, which lies along the southwestern boundary between the near and far sides of the moon, appears as a dark spot ringed by concentric circles of ejecta that reach more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) from the impact location. http://phys.org/news/2012-07-asteroid-moon-surface-smooth.html
Space Exploration Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:21:06 ESTnews261822050Soviet find of water on the Moon in the 1970s ignored by the West(Phys.org) -- In August 1976 Luna 24 landed on the moon and returned to Earth with samples of rocks, which were found to contain water, but this finding was ignored by scientists in the West. http://phys.org/news/2012-06-soviet-moon-1970s-west.html
Space Exploration Fri, 01 Jun 2012 05:33:34 ESTnews257747247Caltech Rover ready for rock-yard competition in Houston(Phys.org) -- Later this week, a four-wheeled robot designed and built by Caltech undergraduate students will maneuver, apparently under its own guidance, through various challenges at the NASA Johnson Space Center Rock Yard in Houston. In actuality, the robot's every move will be under the control of a group of those students who will be located back on campus, in the basement of Spalding Laboratory.http://phys.org/news/2012-05-caltech-rover-ready-rock-yard-competition.html
Space Exploration Tue, 29 May 2012 08:31:08 ESTnews257496893The origin of the moon's craters(PhysOrg.com) -- Moon's craters, together with samples of the surface returned during the Apollo program, tell the story of impacts from two different populations of small bodies. The first rocky collection was gradually depleted over time: About 3.85 billion years ago (the Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago) there was a cataclysmic heavy bombardment of material onto the surface that lasted only a few hundred million years. The second collection of bodies appears not to have been depleted, however, and their impacts have continued at a steady pace. We observe this latter group today as Earth-orbit-crossing objects, and their numbers are apparently renewed at about the same rate that they are lost. All these details are important to our understanding of the Moon, the history of the bombardment of the Earth by the same populations of asteroids, and - not least - to a better understanding of how the solar system evolved and thus how planetary systems around other stars might look during different stages of their evolution.http://phys.org/news/2012-03-moon-craters.html
Space Exploration Mon, 19 Mar 2012 10:40:01 ESTnews251369454LRO lets you stand on the rim of Aristarchus craterHave you ever you looked up at the bright, cavernous Aristarchus Crater on the Moon through a telescope or binoculars and wondered what it would be like to stand on the rim and peer inside? Spectacular new views from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is almost as good as being there, and a new video lets you &#147;rappel&#148; down and take a closer look at the west side of the crater walls. http://phys.org/news/2011-12-lro-rim-aristarchus-crater.html
Space Exploration Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:19:48 ESTnews244459172Waiter, there's metal in my moon water(PhysOrg.com) -- Bring a filter if you plan on drinking water from the moon. Water ice recently discovered in dust at the bottom of a crater near the moon's south pole is accompanied by metallic elements like mercury, magnesium, calcium, and even a bit of silver. Now you can add sodium to the mix, according to Dr. Rosemary Killen of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.http://phys.org/news/2011-02-waiter-metal-moon.html
Space Exploration Fri, 18 Feb 2011 13:20:30 ESTnews217257605Spectacular view of Aitken Crater from sideways LRO glanceWhen people look out of the corner of their eyes, they often don't see things very clearly. But that's not the case for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's cameras. Occasionally LRO's cameras are commanded to look off to the side at extreme angles, and the results, thought not frequent, are incredible. This stunning image of the central uplifts inside of Aitken Crater was taken on January 11, 2011.http://phys.org/news/2011-01-spectacular-view-aitken-crater-sideways.html
Space Exploration Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:48:50 ESTnews214753650Engineered collision spills new Moon secrets (w/ Video)Scientists led by Brown University are offering the first detailed explanation of the crater formed when a NASA rocket slammed into the Moon last fall and information about the composition of the lunar soil at the poles that never has been sampled. The findings are published in a set of papers in Science stemming from the successful NASA mission, called LCROSS for Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite.http://phys.org/news/2010-10-collision-moon-secrets-video.html
Space Exploration Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:36:01 ESTnews206890530Scientists detected surprising gases in Moon impact plumeNASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and its sophisticated suite of instruments have determined that hydrogen, mercury and other volatile substances are present in permanently shaded soils on the Moon, according to a paper published today in Science.http://phys.org/news/2010-10-scientists-gases-moon-impact-plume.html
Space Exploration Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:21:50 ESTnews206889692Lunar Polar Craters May Be Electrified (w/ Video)(PhysOrg.com) -- As the solar wind flows over natural obstructions on the moon, it may charge polar lunar craters to hundreds of volts, according to new calculations by NASA’s Lunar Science Institute team.http://phys.org/news/2010-04-lunar-polar-craters-electrified-video.html
Space Exploration Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:48:22 ESTnews190644480